GERMANY'S TRADE WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 249, 20 October 1924, Page 5

GERMANY'S TRADE WAR.

RECKLESS SPENDING. TO CAPTURE MARKETS. KRXTPS- EXPANSION IN" srAIX. (By SIR PEECIVAL PHILLIPS). Although the (Jerman industrialists ar<. , crying out for British money on the i ground that tJivy art* impoverished, tihey , have been able to spend enormous eiuiie . in increasing ami improving their plants ■ for the forthcoming offensive to capture , the world's markets. Then , is mil a firm in this important 1 industrial region which has mt strength - I ened its productive powers in tins way. ) Reckless expenditure has 'been indulged in not only by manufacturers and mine ' owners but also by Staite and municipal I authorities. Improvements everywhere- - i city pleasure garden*, tine new boule- ■ yards, rebuilt traffic highways, workins: men's nindi-l town*, esjjressively new l ■ office buildings, and mills designed eaid ■ equipped in accordance with the latest, I ideas, all with a splendid disregard for ■ economy. 1 A German industrialist who frequents Dusseldorf boasted in my presence that 1 "the Ruhr had ibeen remade -with paper marks." Amazing Changes. i This is an exaggeration, but a tour of the titidustriaU region Dortmund, DuisJmrg, and Dusseldorf reveals widespread and indeed amazing changes wrought -within the past two years. You have heard a lot about German suffering during- the 20 months* occupation of the Rtufor by the French, but the improvements made even during 19-24 would, arouse the bitter envy of hard-pressed BritisSi manufacturers. Acres of pew houses, all of attractive! design and fitted with every comfort, have arisen on the fringes of Essen, wliere Krupps struggles bravely to make both ends meet. You can drive through paved streets which were green fields when the French entered the Ruihr. Obviously new factories arc to ibe eeeti in many place*. On the outskirts of Bochum i« a gigantic Stinnes plant erected within the past 'two years. The roads converging on the valley of the Ruhr have been remade in preparation for heavy motor traffic -which will come with tile foreign subsidised trade Building Boom. Elsewhere is abundant material for the puzzled investigator wlio is trying to solve the question of Germany's poverty. t'olonge is spending approximately. £0,000,000 on pleasure gardens and athletic grounds, including a wonderful lake and a stadium, and another £4,000,000 on new docks.. The buildinff boom has given employment to thousands of workmen. It is impossible even to estimate the expenditure on new indaistrial equipment. German manufacturers are curiously reserved on tlvis subject. They are not wholly able, however, to disguise their pride in possessing the ibest plants in the world, and foreigners who have inspected some of the big mills are highly impressed by their efficiency. Every branch of industry has been enlarged. The capacity in blast furnaces alone is 32 per cent greater than in 1913, and in steel furnaces 40 per cent. Firms which enlarged their plants for war work—as, flor example, Krupps— have merely converted these emergency factories to a peace-time basis instead of scrapping them, and thus have greatly increased their scope and production. Instead of munitions, Krupps are now making an infinite variety of articles, such as lorries, surgical instruments, cream separators, calculating machines, boilers and textile machinery. At tho present time they are working on a contract for 35 'boilers for South Africa, secured by underbidding British competitors. A Dutch engineer is supervising the work on behalf of the firm which awarded it. Krupps Busy in Spain. Only 25,000 out of a total of 53,009 men are working at the Krupp plant tut Kssen. and the average working week in but littJe over four days. In the railway shops only 1300 men are employed, but full time for 0000 men is confidently expected when Krupps are again able to challenge foreign competition. They are making a good deal of textile machinery at present, and also lorries and agricultural implements, chiefly for the home market. Their railway-tyre mill Is closed, the last 'Ing order having been for 12.000 tyres for Brazil. Knipps are expanding their interests in S]Kun. They are. manufacturing a lanre number of railway parts which will be assembled there and arc alao negotiating to rtake over certain Spanish shipyard a. The other great industrial groups in the Ruhr are watching foreign markets with equal keenness. Stinnea' Deutsuhe Luxembourg, wliicii makes mining machinery and machine tools; Thyesens, which specialises in steel rails, dynamos and other electrical machinery; end Mannesmanns, the. manufacturers of wcldless pipes, arc "standing by" ■with, reduced payrolls but fully mobilised for the big trade offensive which they are confident will come with the new foreign loan.